OSMOND UPDATE: What’s the most dramatic pop-music...

OSMOND UPDATE: What’s the most dramatic pop-music comeback of the ‘80s? Tina Turner? The Beach Boys? John Fogerty?

Don’t place your bets just yet. There’s a late entry: Donny Osmond.

His Capitol Records single “Soldier of Love” is No. 15 on the charts after just six weeks and the singer’s first Top 20 hit since 1976 is considered a shoo-in to reach the Top 5.

Other artists have come back after being cold for years, but what makes Osmond’s success so surprising is that he’s rebounded in the image-conscious record business despite his squeaky-clean persona.

(The comeback record is also hot legally. It’s the subject of a courtroom battle between Osmond, Capitol Records and Curb Records. Osmond will appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday to contest Curb Records’ allegation that it--not Capitol Records--has exclusive distribution rights to any U.S. Osmond release.)

The 31-year-old singer told Pop Eye that he wondered at times whether a comeback was possible. Even his close advisors, he said, were discouraging.

“There are people who basically wrote me off--former associates who said, ‘Look you’ve had a nice career. Pack it in,’ ” Osmond told Pop Eye. “But I’ve gotten tough skin over the years. This past decade has been a very good educational process--to see the real world and how it really is.”

Osmond said when he got discouraged he would listen to his “theme song”--the Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush duet “Don’t Give Up.”

And he never did. “I always thought as long as I could get my foot in the door and get people to hear what I sound like, there was a good chance I’d be able to hit it again,” he said. “But I didn’t think it would take off this fast.”

Despite the record’s acceptance, Osmond spoke in wary tones which suggested that the success hasn’t sunk in yet.

“I think that’s because I’m concentrating on singles two and three right now,” he said. “Now the work begins. I can’t sit back.”